The Bozeman weekly chronicle., 1887-03-16
Farm Notes.

A good farmer must know how to raise
good crops, but to insure success he must
know how best to dispose of them.
When the early chickens come set the
coop in sunny fence corner where the
searching winds are shut off. March
chickens are tender.
In the second week of May New York
is to have Il grand cattle and dairy show
with large premiums for all the milch
breeds and for DAIRY products.
Try some new grasses this spring,
orchard grass if you have not used it
before, meadow foxtail, or meadow oat
grass, aid try plot of alfalfa and one Of
alsikc clover.
Experiments at the New York station
seem to show that the natural falling off
of milk for each month after calving is
about nine per cent of the yield of the
previous month.
The tcndcr-heartsd people who ex-
claim against the cruelties of the dehor-
ming process ought to expend some Of
their pity upon the feebler cattle that
are disemboweled every year by horns,
not to speak of human beings who are
gored.
As result of the war scare in Europe
there has been an extraordinary demand
for timed meats in Chicago. This has
given an impetus to the canning business
such as it has not experienced for years.
All the local establishments are very
busy, and are paying an advance on the
class of cattle they require of fifty cents
as compared with the quotations Of a
short time ago.
Beans are rich IN nitrogen and are
good food for any sort Of animals. Hogs
may be fattened on them. There is
nothing better for sheep, and they are
Just the thing for cows in milk.
Cut raspberry and blackberry canes of
to within six inches of the the root when
setting out. The newly set plant should
not bear the first season. The growth
from the cane this season is only for
the purpose of strengthening the root,
that it may send up strong new canes
which will bear next season.
Lettuce, peas and onions will stand
pretty severe cold snap and may be
planted as soon as the frost is fairly out
of the ground. I have had peas, the
early round sort, covered by belated
snow storm and come out uninjured
For the sake of having an early bite and
beating the neighbors it may be well to
take some risks and plant early. l have
planted onion sets during a January
thaw.
The breeding mare must be watched
closely in the spring. More than any
other animal, unless it is stallion. she
needs exercise 1t is on this account
that the mare which works in the team,
unless over worked. always does well.
She may drop her colt in the furrow
with the harness on, or in the stable at
noon ntime (such cases have happened),
and with rest of two or three days she
will resume her work and the little colt
do we'll
On the lceward side Of fences there
will generally be found heavy banks of
snow, which, rs they thaw from beneath
towards spring, destroy whatever lies
beneath them. Over winter grain all
danger may be prevented by making
holes with crowbar through the drifts
to the ground beneath. This will admit
air enough to prevent the plants from
smothering and by admitting colder out
side air will prevent the grain from
starting into growth before the bank has
been thawed away.
The propriety and economy of feeding
skim milk to cows has been fayorably
settled by many practical experiments.
The condition of the skim milk, of
course, must he considered. 1t should
be given sweet, or very slightly changed
by acidity. Some cows must be taught
TO take it, and this may be done by
molstening wheat bran or fine barn with
a little skim milk. All the food elements
of skim milk are digestible. Its 90 per
cent water is no more than is contained
in several kinds of roots, and it. isy more
valuable for weight than any species Of
turnip or root, as it has quite three times
as much albumlnoid food as most Of
these, and nearly three times as much as
the richest of all the roots-parsnips. If
each COW is fed % lbs. of skim milk per
day, this would give O.s7 lbs of album.
noids, is lbs of carbohydrater and 0.0S
lbs. of fat, which is as much alhuminoids
as 10 lbs. of the highest quality of clover
hay, or 10 lbs. of bran, or II Tbs. of mid
dlings or 5 lbs of linseed cake or meal.
When two or more skimminGs are to
to be churned together, the first ones
should be kept cold till the last skim
ming is of and then all thoroughly
mixed together and warmed to co. to $50
and kept in pure air at about the same
and frequently stirred till
acid begins to be perceptible. and then
churned at the same degree. By keep
ing the first skimimings cold and sweet
till the last one is off, they will all ripen
alike when mixed. and churn alike, and,
what is very important. will have the
longest time possible for thorough ripen-
ing before becoming sour. Cream while
it is ripeuing should be stirred. The
ripening consists, not in souring, as is
supposed, but in airing, 30
that it may become oxidized by having
the oxygen o: the air strike through it
Hence the more stirring while ripening
the better. The process of ripening by
which high flavor and long keeping are
promoted, goes on better when cream
is warm than when it is cold, and better
when it is sweet than when sour. Hence